Here is our submission to the IPART Review of Prices for Sydney Water Corporation from 1 October 2025
6 June 2025
Thank you for the opportunity to give feedback on the IPART review of Prices for Sydney Water Corporation from 1 October 2025.
The aim of Friends of Berowra Valley (FoBV) is to protect the natural landscape, heritage and biodiversity of Berowra Valley.
We were impressed that the Pricing Proposal by Sydney Water addressed the underlying issues impacting the environment that we see every day – an aging infrastructure stretched to its limits. Sydney Water is tasked with an enormous job cleaning up historical pollution of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment as well as providing infrastructure for increased housing. The community sees the enormous increase in population pressure and wants to see enough funds being directed to Sydney Water so that it can respond effectively.
Here is our submission to Council on the proposed rezoning of 1-3 Johnson Rd. You can have your say on this proposal until 11 May 2025.
Thank you for the opportunity to give feedback on this proposal. The aim of Friends of Berowra Valley (FoBV) is to protect the natural landscape, heritage and biodiversity of Berowra Valley.
This project presents an opportunity for Council to show they value the communities wishes and are capable of compromise to protect CEEC communities.
Background
1 and 3 Johnson Rd, Galston is approximately 2.92ha. The site is owned by Hornsby Shire Council and current uses include a Council depot, Council storage and the Galston Fire Brigade facilities. 1 and 3 Johnson Rd, Galston are currently zoned RU4 (Primary Production Small Lots). In June 2023, Council resolved to put together a planning proposal to rezone the site to E4 (General Industrial).
Under the Hornsby LEP 2013, the site is zoned RU4 (Primary Production Small Lots), has a minimum lot size of 2ha and a maximum building height limit of 10.5m. Current permitted uses include child care facilities, community facilities, residential development (including dwelling houses, dual occupancies and secondary dwellings), garden centres, information and education facilities, landscaping material supplies, plant nurseries, recreation areas, and veterinary hospitals.
What the Local Community Want
Johnson Rd in Galston is a quiet street, leading to four other local streets with no through traffic. 3 Johnson Rd is home to a lovely large green parkland, bordered by dozens of beautiful mature Scribbly Gums and the critically endangered Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest, it is also home to an abundance of birdlife. This beautiful space is council owned land but is used daily by locals – old and young – to walk, kick a ball, ride bikes, play tip, gather kindling and meet in the late afternoon with their dogs to talk with neighbours. This unofficial park sits above Colah Creek where platypus have been observed.
3 Johnson Rd is the only green space within easy walking distance of the western side of Galston. It is accessible to a large number of homes without the need to cross a main road, which is extremely important to families in our area. Our kids enjoy this wide open space on a daily basis but importantly, the nature of this parkland and its proximity to so many residential streets mean it is also used by a large number of adults. Lasting friendships have been born here, and it’s a truly special meeting place.
What the Council Wants
In June 2023, Council resolved to put together a planning proposal to rezone the site to E4 (General Industrial), to increase employment opportunities in the area and provide financial benefit to Council.
Biodiversity Report Finds a CEEC
As part of the planning proposal Council found out that the area contained a Critically Endangered Ecological Community (CEEC) the Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest (STIF).
Image taken from the Biodiversity Assessment Report
PCT 3259 Sydney Coastal Shale-Sandstone Forest is shown in light green.
PCT 3262 Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest is shown in purple.
Despite Council recently running an important campaign calling on the community to protect another CEEC, the Blue Gum High Forest, Council has not followed its own lead and changed tack, and still plans to recommend that the site at Johnson Rd is zoned as E4 General Industrial.
Despite Council’s failure to step up and unambiguously lead in the protection of our natural assets, the community wants to protect critically endangered plants, animals or ecological communities. Alongside this, the community at Galston wants their valued natural place to remain so, to continue connecting, playing and building friendships. The community sees the recent abject failure of Council to protect the STIF CEEC at Westleigh Park and the subsequent loss of all funding for that project. This is an important opportunity for Council to show itself capable of listening to the community, and, creating better plans for development in the Shire without destroying or damaging another well-known Critically Endangered Ecological Community.
Recommendation
Rezone 3 Johnson Road and the area containing STIF to C2 (Environmental Conservation).
In recent years STEP had become increasingly concerned about the potential impact of Spanish Moss on our bushland and so in December 2023 they asked members to send through details of any Spanish Moss growing on trees. They then undertook a preliminary survey from Cowan to Marrickville to determine what tree species it grew on. What they found was disturbing.
Turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera) is the most severely affected of all the 76+ species of plants they recorded Spanish Moss growing in. Infestations can be so dense and widespread that whole trees are festooned. Spanish Moss flourishes over Turpentine leaves and worryingly it appears it may be able to kill mature trees by preventing photosynthesis. Locally, Turpentine trees are important trees in the critically endangered Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest (STIF) and Blue Gum High Forest (BGHF) as well as in sandstone gullies. Their loss would be disastrous. Worse still, Turpentines are common trees in fertile forests from the Queensland border to near Ulladulla and our evidence suggests that Spanish Moss could damage Turpentines all the way along the coast and ranges. We are not sure why it flourishes so well on Turpentines but we are prepared to speculate that leachates from the fungi on the leaves encourages its growth.
More bad news for our rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests is that Lilly Pilly (Acmena smithii), Cheese Tree (Glochidion ferdinandi) and Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus), all major components of our east coast rainforest, can be severely affected while Coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum), and Blueberry Ash (Elaeocarpus reticulatus) can certainly carry Spanish Moss. In addition to damaged or dead trees, threats to ecosystems include subtle effects such as altered water and nutrient cycles, changed predator prey interactions, habitat alteration, moderation of the microclimate and transformed fire regimes. Changes such as these are one of the greatest conservation threats to biodiversity in Australia.
The good news is that eucalypts, bloodwoods and Sydney Red Gum (Angophora costata) seem to be resistant to it. We only repeatedly recorded Spanish Moss flourishing on Red Mahogany (Eucalyptus resinifera).
Spanish Moss is obviously well loved by many gardeners, but STEP is not sure that gardeners realise how rapidly it can grow and spread. What today may be a gentle grey ornamental addition to the garden may overwhelm it with dense heavy screens of moss up to 3 m long over a few years. Overseas, festoons over 8 m long have been recorded. The artistic addition to the garden today may be a nightmare tomorrow. You may think that your garden is safely distant from bushland, but we recorded a jump of 70 m from the nearest Spanish Moss when it was used by Noisy Miners in their nest. All gardens must therefore be viewed as sources of infestations.
Physical control will be difficult as it is an air plant and has no contact with the ground. In most cases as they found it out of reach, sometimes 15 m up a tree.
Efforts are now underway to get the plant listed as a weed so that Councils are more motivated to take action. We are calling on:
Gardeners not to spread it, to remove all of it they can reach and put it in the green bin
Local authorities such as local councils and NPWS to remove it from all public places, including trees on nature strips
It is added to the next iteration of the Greater Sydney Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan and all other relevant regional strategic weed management plans
It classified at a level that enables its eradication and containment, prohibition of sale and distribution, e.g. as a regional priority weed
Research into why Turpentines are a favoured host and the ecological effects of Spanish Moss on bushland
Research into control methods
Swaying veils of grey in dead or dying trees and simplified bushland is not something to look forward to. Let’s not risk it.
The core objectives for management of community land categorised as a natural area are—
(a) to conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem function in respect of the land, or the feature or habitat in respect of which the land is categorised as a natural area, and
(b) to maintain the land, or that feature or habitat, in its natural state and setting, and
(c) to provide for the restoration and regeneration of the land, and
(d) to provide for community use of and access to the land in such a manner as will minimise and mitigate any disturbance caused by human intrusion, and
Council seems to think activities that have been shown to damage natural areas such as mountain biking are consistent with the Local Government Act. That is true if mountain bikers keep to fire trails and degraded areas. However Council has allowed mountain bike tracks to be built through Critically Endangered Ecological Communities at Westleigh Park. Council seems to be doubling down on this abuse of the Act and are now trying to extend it to all natural areas.
Question 18 asks you to rate how Council is managing the balance between recreation activities and protecting the natural area. What a strange choice to make, as if recreation and natural area protection are diametrically opposed.
There are many examples of recreational activities that do not damage natural areas such as bushwalking, photography, birdwatching and adding observations to iNaturalist.
We are also concerned how this consultation will reach the very many people who use natural areas in an informal way. The local bushland is being used every day by bushwalkers who do not belong to clubs and take for granted that Council will perform its duty to protect and conserve the bushland for the community. We are concerned that the results will be heavily slanted towards groups who are motivated to destroy more bushland in their short-sighted need for thrills as has occurred at Westleigh Park. Is Hornsby Shire Council above the Local Government Act?
The survey could be used to highlight that fact that areas such as Crosslands cannot be swum in 90% of the time due to high levels of pollution in Berowra Creek.
We have been contacted by Still Creek Landcare about an area that is very special to the local community.
“Johnson Rd in Galston is a quiet street, leading to four other local streets with no through traffic. 3 Johnson Rd is home to a lovely large green parkland, bordered by dozens of beautiful mature Scribbly Gums and the critically endangered Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest, it is also home to an abundance of birdlife. This beautiful space is council owned land but is used daily by locals – old and young – to walk, kick a ball, ride bikes, play tip, gather kindling and meet in the late afternoon with their dogs to talk with neighbours. This unofficial park sits above Colah Creek where platypus have been observed.
3 Johnson Rd is the only green space within easy walking distance of the western side of Galston. It is accessible to a large number of homes without the need to cross a main road, which is extremely important to families in our area. Our kids enjoy this wide open space on a daily basis but importantly, the nature of this parkland and its proximity to so many residential streets mean it is also used by a large number of adults. Lasting friendships have been born here, and it’s a truly special meeting place.
The local community have been fighting for over a year against a, we believe, ill-conceived proposal by Clr Waddell to turn this much loved community green space into a home for industrial units, which based on the tenancy rates at nearby Dural, will likely sit vacant. “
Please join those in Ward A to vote in Councillors who care for the environment and who will use their vote for development that benefits the community not developers.
Hornsby Shire Council has lost funding for this hugely contentious project. According to the ABC News Article “The state government has knocked back the council’s request for an extension of time to spend the money, because they were not able to demonstrate that the project was on track.
If you see illegal mountain bike trails in a National Park then open up Google Maps on your phone, do a long press and this will create a Dropped Pin which shows the coordinates where you are. Share the pin with your email and also take a photo of the damage.
Create an email and include the GPS coordinates in the dropped pin and photo to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and tell them that you are unhappy with the destruction you are witnessing.
This sends a powerful message to NPWS and the state government that we are sick of seeing illegal MTB trails being created in healthy bushland.
They destroy habitat
They cause erosion
They reduce biodiversity
The email will help the one ranger that NPWS has allocated to the Berowra Valley National Park know where the trails are. If they have the resources and are working already in that area they can remove the MTB trails.
The current state government implemented the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. This act puts a value on our wildlife and natural environment and then lets it be destroyed anyway.
Did you know that one koala offset is currently worth $399, if a developer is destroying koala habitat then the number of offsets is determined, money paid and away you go.
The current state legislation is doing nothing to protect our natural environment.
Yet 7.7 million hectares of threatened species habitat was destroyed in Australia between 2000 and 2017, according to independent research commissioned by ACF. This is an area of forest and woodland larger than Tasmania!
Australia’s threatened bird species declined in abundance by an average of 44% from 2000 to 2016.
So why is Hornsby Shire Council ignoring all ecological advice and planning to sanction illegally built mountain bike trails through sensitive bushland at Westleigh Park? This includes the critically endangered Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest and the endangered Duffys Forest.
The council has published the trails to be built, reducing the current ‘illegal’ 9km network to 7km. These trails apart from 2 are not shared, therefore excluding the local community from enjoying their own bushland. The vast majority of mountain bikers will not be from the local area.
Rather than working within the site constraints, such as sensitive bushland, critical infrastructure in the form a dam and traffic bottlenecks, council wants to build a regional sporting venue. This regional sporting venue will have three platforms, two platforms will hold 2 sporting fields each and one platform will be an athletics track.
Friends of Berowra Valley have been fighting this through helping to create Save Westleigh Park. Please help by voting for a state member with ecological literacy.
Hornsby Shire Council is considering sanctioning the network of mountain bike trails that have been illegally built through Critically Endangered and Endangered Ecological Communities at Westleigh Park.
Council’s recent consultation culminated in a 3-day co-design workshop focusing on the main stakeholders – mountain bikers, conservationists and residents.
This $50K consultation outcome report has been unanimously rejected by the non-MTB participants. They felt the bias was strongly in favour of the mountain bike groups. The final set of 16 workshop participants were carefully vetted by council, 50% were mountain bikers, 25% were local residents and 25% were conservationists.
Council hired an independent mountain bike track designer to present to the co-design workshop and despite repeated requests there was no independent ecologist to explain the fragility and significance of these critically endangered communities.
The initial workshops included the option of no trails in the bushland but the final co-design trail workshops narrowed the brief to remove this as an option.
Hornsby Shire Council purchased the land in 2016 from Sydney Water to cater for the needs of the whole community. Council staff identified pristine bushland with large intact areas of the rare Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest and Duffys Forest. Most of the community had obeyed the Sydney Water signs and fencing excluding them from the area. But mountain bikers were not deterred and by 2017 had built 5km network of trails.
Hornsby Council did not effectively prevent the building of illegal trails and by 2020 ecological consultants warned council that “No education program has been provided to mountain bike community regarding the impact of their activities on ecological values (and human health through asbestos movement). The length, width and construction activity of trails has noticeably increased since acquisition of the land by Council. As a result, soil erosion, soil and seed translocation and vegetation damage has also noticeably increased. These key issues threaten the integrity of the native vegetation to a point that some areas are currently at risk of approaching an ecological threshold.”
They also confirmed the vegetation mapping which includes significant areas of Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest (STIF) Critically Endangered Ecological Community under NSW BC Act 2016 and Commonwealth EPBC Act and Duffys Forest which is listed as Endangered under the NSW BC Act 2016. The mountain bike trail network traverses through significant patches of STIF as well as populations of Darwinia biflora and Melaleuca deanei (EPBC Act, BC Act), Tetratheca glandulosa (BC Act) and habitat that supports the Square-tailed Kite (BC Act).
In 2021 Council produced a draft master plan for Westleigh Park which was the subject of a community consultation. Unable to agree on the master plan for a mountain bike trail network in the critically endangered forest, they then ran another consultation culminating in the co-design workshops.
Environmental and Community groups are joining together under Save Westleigh Park to fight for a fairer and broader community perspective.
This year’s edition is the most comprehensive finding to date and provides a platform for the best science, cutting-edge research and diverse voices on the impact of humans on the health of our Earth. More than 50 experts from academia, policy, international development and conservation organisations have contributed. WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 shows the scale of the challenge – and highlights what we can do, both here in Australia and around the world, to change the way we live.
The future of the planet is in our hands.
Key findings from WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 include:
Global wildlife populations fell by 69%, on average, between 1970 and 2018.
Australia continues to have the most mammal extinctions in the world. The report tells a disturbing story of continual decline of more than 1,100 wildlife populations in Australia due to pressures from climate change, habitat destruction and introduced predators.
Populations of sharks and rays have dropped by 71% worldwide over the last 50 years due to fishing practices.There has been a 64% reduction in Australian sea lion pups born each year in South and Western Australia.
Combined koala populations have plummeted by 50% over 20 years in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
Globally, landuse change is still the biggest current threat to nature, destroying or fragmenting the natural habitats of many plant and animal species on land, in freshwater and in our oceans.
If we cannot limit global warming to 1.5°C, climate change will likely become the dominant cause of biodiversity loss in the coming decades.
Australia must set strong nature laws, become a world leader in forest protection and climate action, and respect and acknowledge the stewardship of Indigenous Australians to care for Country. With the right conservation effort, commitment, investment and expertise, wildlife and wild places can be brought back from the brink.
The Living Planet Report includes the latest findings measured by the Living Planet Index, tracking 32,000 populations of 5,230 mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish from 1970-2018. This includes more than 1,100 populations in Australia.
